Due to pandemic-related uncertainty and market volatility, clients are demanding additional communications and engagement from their advisors. They want to know where they stand financially at any given moment, and they want to work more closely with their advisors on the path forward.
Continuous engagement supported by the Envestnet Client Portal is overturning the traditional advisory model of annual meetings and 100-page, paper-based reports. And replacing it with on-demand access to information and tools that build trust by deepening advisor-client relationships. In fact, between the first and second quarters of 2020, consultants at LibertyFi recorded a 30-percent increase in engagement with the Envestnet Client Portal.
A recent Aite Group survey, RIA Digital Transformation, found that:
- 67% of independent RIAs state that client-facing technology enhances advisor-client collaboration.
- 60% use the technology to provide clients with self-service tools.
- 51% use it to conduct and prepare financial plans.
Improving Client Satisfaction With The Client Portal
With 24/7 access to their financial information from the Envestnet Client Portal, clients can better understand their financial situations. With the ability to review the status of their accounts, including savings, checking, credit cards, mortgages, investments, and more, clients gain more comprehensive views of where they are financially, and insights into where they’ll be in the future.
The Envestnet platform uses client financial data to draw insights into the wellness of clients’ financial lives. And it provides financial wellness tools to help clients understand their net worth, budgets, expenses, and cash flows. By creating and managing budgets, clients can adjust their spending and saving behaviors to achieve their goals.
With access to client financial data, advisors can build more accurate financial plans, identify potential gaps in assets, and target areas to grow their share of wallet.
The Importance of Goals And Plans To Achieve Them
The path to financial wellness starts with goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. With these goals, advisors and clients have objectives around which they can build financial plans.
By combining the power of the Client Portal with financial planning from Envestnet | MoneyGuide, advisors and clients gain the context they need to:
- Evaluate spending and saving behaviors.
- Improve investment decisions.
- Review investment performance.
- Predict the likelihood of achieving goals.
Financial planning with MoneyGuide is a powerful tool for increasing customer satisfaction and helping clients make significant financial decisions. Rather than focusing exclusively on performance, the advisor-client relationship revolves around the client’s financial goals and the plan to achieve them.
Progressing Along The Path To Financial Wellness
By providing clients with access to their financial data, goals, and plans, the Client Portal becomes the center of their financial lives. It’s the one place a client can go to get a comprehensive overview of their financial situation.
Concerns about market volatility and downturns become less important. Because advisors and clients evaluate these disruptions based on their impact on achieving financial goals rather than by simply comparing quarter-to-quarter or year-over-year performance. This can increase clients’ peace of mind.
With these insights, clients can also start making more informed decisions about major lifestyle purchases like buying a vacation home, a new car, or a boat. Clients and advisors can evaluate these kinds of decisions based on their impact on the financial plan both in terms of the cost of the expenditure and the opportunity cost. For example, while an advisor might confirm that a client can afford to purchase a $75,000 car without adversely impacting the plan, the advisor can also assess the opportunity cost to the plan of not investing that money for 15 years at a constant seven percent return: $207,000.
Conclusion
Continuous engagement, driven by digital technology, is a trend that has accelerated because of economic uncertainty and market volatility. Clients are looking for trusted advisors who can help them understand where they stand financially at any time. With the Envestnet Client Portal, advisors can address this need by increasing transparency and collaboration to build trust.
LibertyFi has deep expertise helping growth-oriented RIAs drive revenue and scale their businesses with the Envestnet unified advice platform of integrated solutions. Our personalized consulting services include evaluating clients’ business processes and their supporting technologies, implementing the Envestnet platform, streamlining operations, and providing middle-office support. We can help you center and strengthen your digital client experience.
For help assessing your fintech needs or managing the Envestnet platform, contact Alli Jordan.
Sources
- “RIA Digital Transformation,” Aite Group, Accessed September 11, 2020, https://aitegroup.com/report/ria-digital-transformation-competitive-necessity-post-pandemic-marketplace